CUNA, Affiliates Make a Tradition of 'Working the Bags' for Cherry Blossom Runners, NAFCU Volunteers Fan Out

WASHINGTON -- Ensuring a successful Cherry Blossom race takes a lot of volunteers to make sure the runners are taken care of from water to taking care of their belongings.

Eighteen representatives from CUNA, the National Credit Union Foundation, the American Association of Credit Union Leagues, and the Association of Corporate Credit Unions teamed up to man the "gear check" tent. The group spent the morning checking and returning bags of gear with dry clothing, street shoes, towels, and other personal items stowed by the nearly 11,000 runners who participated in the Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run. The team handled nearly 5,000 bags of gear. "The credit union system's teamwork is par for the course in our everyday operations," CUNA President/CEO Dan Mica remarked. He described the scene as "just an outward sign of this close collaboration and teamwork." Senior management were among those participating in the Sunday event including Scott Earl of AACUL; Brad Miller of ACCU; Lois Kitsch, Jeff Purvis and Martha Dodson of the Foundation; and CUNA Senior Vice President of Communications Mark Wolff, Chief Financial Officer Joanne Duncan, and Chief Economist Bill Hampel.

NAFCU's Director of Member Benefits/NSC Liaison Chris Sanyer, who organized the group's 18 volunteers explained, "Our group served as course marshals along the first mile of the race. We helped place traffic barriers, guided the runners down the course, kept pedestrians from straying onto the course, and cheered the runners on. After the runners passed the first mile, we moved onto the last mile and cheered as the runners neared the finish line." --scooke@cutimes.com